Biophysical & Biochemical Characterization of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an extremely prevalent malignancy that is the fourth world ¿wide. It is an important contributor to the mortality of those with chronic liver diseases in both ¿developing and developed countries. Early detection of cancer offers the best chance for cure; this is ¿why screening for HCC is recommended on regular basis. Screening may involve blood tests to ¿detect the level of tumor markers in serum and radiological tests including CT, MRI and ultrasound ¿imaging. In the current work, the detection possibility of the structural changes in serum proteins ¿accompanying cirrhosis and HCC is investigated using Low-Angle X-ray Scattering (LAXS) ¿technique. Also, the serum levels of some biochemical factors which are probably related to ¿cirrhosis and HCC are measured. The LAXS results showed that there are significant differences in ¿the LAXS profiles of cirrhosis and HCC lyophilized serum samples compared to normal. The ¿changes in shape, total counts and position of the first scattering peak at 4.8 degrees, which was previously ¿reported to be sensitive to the structural changes in protein, showed the most characteristic deviations ¿from normal serum.¿